Door-brace.



No. '776,892'. PATENTED DEC. 6, 1904.

` F. DAHLUND.

DOOR BRACE.

APPLIATION FILED JULY 13,1904.

K0 MODEL.

Unirse STATES Patented December 6, 1904.

PATnNr OFFICE.

i DOOR-BRACE..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 776,892, dated December6, 1904.

Application iiled July 13, 1904. Serial No. 216,364. (No model.)

To all 1,070,071?, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK DAI-ILUNLD, a citi- Zen of the United States,and a resident of Esmond, in the county of Benson and State of NorthDakota, have invented a new and Improved Door-Brace, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved brace fortrap-doors, such as used in cellars and other places, arranged to permitof conveniently swinging the door upward into an open position and toautomatically hold it therein.

The invention consists of novel features and parts and combinations ofthe same, as will be more fully described hereinafter and then pointedout in the claims.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in theaccompanying' drawings, forming a part of this specification, in whichsimilar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theviews.

Figure l is a perspective View of the improvement as applied. Fig. 2 isan enlarged sectional side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan viewof the bracket attached to the cellar-door casing and the spring for thearm, the fulcrum end of which is shown in section; and Fig. i is asectional side elevation of the keeper on the door and thespring-pressed extension -arm locked in position on the keeper.

The door A, on which the improvement is applied, is connected by hingesB to the doorcasing C. provided on its inside, adjacent to the hingedend of the door A, with a bracket D, having' bearings E and E', in whichthe pivot F of an arm F is journaled, the said arm F having an extensionF2, slidingly en gaging bearings G and G2 on a keeper G', bolted orotherwise fastened to the under side of the door A, as plainlyillustrated in Figs. l and 2. On the pivot F for the arm F is coiled atorsion-spring H, secured at one end to the braeketD and fastened at itsother end in a slot or recess formed in the pivot F, so as to bring thearm F under sufiicient pressure to assist a person by swinging the doorA into an open position by the spring H uncoiling correspondingly. Theextension F2 is adjustably held on the arm F, and for this purpose thefree end of the latter is provided with a pin F3, engaging one of aseries of apertures F', formed in the extension F2, to allow of moving'the extension F2 farther out on the arm F or farther in, according tothe width of the door A, on which the device is to be used.

l/Vhen the door is in a closed position, as indicated in dotted lines inFig. 2, then the bear ing G2 of the keeper G- extends close to the freeend of the arm F, and when a person lifts the door A then the extensionF2 slides in the bearings (ail and (irt3 and the spring H assists theupward swinging motion of the door to relieve the person of some of theweight of the door when swinging the latter open, it being understoodthat the tension of the spring ll is regulated so as to he somewhat lessthan the force required to swing the door A open.

1n order to lock the door A when swung' into a raised position, asillustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the following device is provided: On thebearing r/ of the keeper (ir is'secured a pin l, adapted to engage anaperture F5, formed in the extension F, and the under side of the latteris pressed on by a spring J, secured to the keeper (i, so that when thedoor A swings into an open position and the extension F: slides downwardin the keeper Gr then the aperture F5 linally movesin reg ister with thepin I and is engaged bythe latter as the extension F2 is pressed outwardby the spring J, and hence the extension F2 is locked to the keeper andthe door A is held automatically in an open position. On the outer endof the extension Fz is secured a hanu die K, adapted to be pressed bythe operator to disengage the pin l from the aperture F5 whenever it isdesired to again swing the door A back into aclosed position. The handleK is so located relative to the aperture F5 as to form a stop adapted toabut against the bear ing G' at the time the aperture F5 moves intoregister with the pin I. Thus the door A cannot be swung' farther openthan to the desired inclined position, as indicated in Figs. l and 2,this position being' determined by adjusting the extension Fcorrespondingly on TOO the arm F and fastening the bracketD in thedesired position on the door-casing C.

In order to allow regulating the tension of the spring H, the pivotedend or heel F6 of the arm F is formed with a polygonal bore forremovable connection with the polygonal portion F7 of the pivot F/ toallow of turning the latter after the arm is removed until the pivot isunder the desired tension of the spring H. rlhe pivoted end F6 of thearm F is held against accidental displacement on the polygonal portionF7 of the pivot by an angular keeper E2, removably fastened by a bolt orscrew to the bracket D, it being understood that the fulcrum end FG ofthe arm extends between the bearing E and the keeper E2, as plainlyindicated in Fig. 3. In order to prop erly guide the arm F, a guideway Lis secured to the door A, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

The device is very simple and durable in construction, is not liable toeasily get out of order, and can be readily adjusted to suit differentsizes of doors, as well as the weight thereof, to permit of a personconveniently swinging the door into an open or closed position withoutexerting much physical power and to automatically lock and hold the doorin an open position until it is desired to again close the door.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent 1. A door-brace comprising a bracket for attachment tothe casingof the door, a swingarm having its pivot journaled in thebracket, said swing-arm also having an adjustable eX- tension, atorsion-spring pressing said pivot, a keeper for attachment to the doorand slidably engaged by said extension, a pin on the keeper for engagingan aperture in the eXtension, a spring on the keeper pressing said eX-tension, and a handle on the extension for pressing the latter anddisengaging' the pin from said aperture, said handle constituting a stopfor limiting the movement of the eX- tension on swinging the door toopen position.

2. A door-brace comprising a bracket for attachment to the door-casing,a swing-arm having its pivot journaled in the bracket, the saidswing-arm having an adjustable eXtension, a torsion-spring pressing thesaid pivot, a'keeper for attachment to the door and slidably engaged bythe said extension-arm, a pin on the keeper, for engaging an aperture inthe extension, a spring on the keeper, pressing the said extension, anda handle on the extension for pressing the latter and disengaging thepin from the said aperture.

ln testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK DAHLUND. Vitnesses:

O. E. KIRKNOLD, H. G. DOKKEN.

